I truly feel I’m here because of immunotherapy.
Marguerite Sullivan never imagined that bumping her leg on a desk would change her life.
At the time, she was busy leading federal programs for one of the largest public school systems in New Jersey — a demanding role that included overseeing No Child Left Behind funding. Cancer was the furthest thing from her mind.
But after the bruise on her leg became swollen and painful, doctors began searching for answers. First, they suspected an infection. Then a blood clot. Surgery followed.
At her post-operative appointment, the surgeon walked into the room and asked a question she would never forget:
“Where’s your husband?”
Moments later, Marguerite learned she had metastatic melanoma.
“Hearing those words was a tremendous shock,” she recalls.
She immediately underwent additional surgery and began treatment with interferon. Although her lymph nodes were clear, the surgery on her thigh was extensive, and the side effects of treatment were devastating.
“Interferon was horrendous,” she says. “I’m an optimistic person by nature, but for the first time in my life, I understood what depression felt like.”
Then, six months later, another devastating blow: the cancer had spread to her lungs and returned in her thigh.
Determined to find options, Marguerite sent her records to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Within days, she met melanoma specialist Dr. Gary Schwartz, who introduced her to an emerging approach that was beginning to transform cancer care: immunotherapy.
Dr. Schwartz explained how a new type of treatment called a PD-1 inhibitor could “release the brakes” on the immune system, allowing it to recognize and attack cancer cells more effectively. He urged her to enroll in a clinical trial studying nivolumab (Opdivo®), an experimental immunotherapy at the time.
But just before she was scheduled to begin treatment, doctors discovered tumors in her brain.
Suddenly, she no longer qualified for the trial.
“It was devastating,” Marguerite says.
But Dr. Schwartz remained hopeful.
“Don’t you worry,” he told her. “We can take care of your brain.”
She underwent radiation and began treatment with another immunotherapy, ipilimumab. Remarkably, she responded so well to radiation that she became eligible for the nivolumab trial after all.
By then, the cancer was advancing rapidly.
“It was in my leg, in my lungs — and every scan showed it getting bigger.”
On November 13, 2013, Marguerite received her first infusion of nivolumab.
Just eight days later, her tumor had already started shrinking.
“The tumor on my leg became so small I was having trouble finding it,” she says. “Can you imagine?”
Months later came the phone call that changed everything.
Dr. Michael Postow, who had taken over her care after Dr. Schwartz’s departure, greeted her with a nickname that still makes her smile.
Hi, poster child. You’ve had a 100 percent response.
Today, Marguerite is cancer-free.
And throughout her treatment, she was able to keep living her life.
“I didn’t miss a day of work,” she says. “Every other Tuesday at 2:15 p.m., I’d swipe out, get in the car with my husband, and head into the city for treatment. My husband called it our ‘date night.’”
For Marguerite, immunotherapy didn’t just save her life. It allowed her to keep being herself while fighting for it.
“I truly feel I’m here because of immunotherapy,” she says. “I’m truly blessed.”
There is one moment she remembers especially clearly.
One summer afternoon, while browsing an online shoe sale, she found herself hesitating over a pair of sandals.
“I remember thinking, ‘Next summer… I don’t know if I’m even going to need those sandals.’”
Then she stopped herself.
“And I thought: I’m ordering four pairs.”
The next summer, she wore those sandals while chasing after her 15-month-old granddaughter.
And today, her story stands as a powerful reminder of what immunotherapy research can make possible: not just more time, but more life.
